INSOMNIA: The Ark

After more than a year of not playing Insomnia I've decided to give it a try once more... and guess what. There are still the same bugs that were year ago. Really guys? This game, while being very atmospheric is an unfinished product which shouldn't been released. There are so many bugs that it's just crazy...from minor to major. Such a shame, really.

In October 2021, in the Steam Community forums for the game, Kotan, listed as developer, made a few posts describing how "the project team has broken up and we no longer have people to support the game." Which wouldn't be so bad if pretty much all verified owners hadn't described this game as buggy and broken (read the other reviews for that). Read for yourself at the game's Steam Discussions: [EN] General Discussions > PINNED: FAQ, post #9 by Kotan; and Events and Announcements > Indie Cup Celebration Sale, posts #14 (in Russian) and #15 by Kotan. Disclaimer: Yes, my review immediately follows another review making the same point, but I'm writing this because I thought that review might have been malicious (no citations nor context for something that would keep most people from buying the game) and because it somehow rated 5 stars an unsupported game described by verified owners as broken and by its own developer as unfinished with "broken promises". Nothing personal. BTW, that review's quote is a translation from the post #14 I mentioned above.

How can you NOT patch story and game breaking bugs after 3 years? I spent 30 hours of my life enjoying something just to feel important rage because of an old game breaking bug. Simple bugs never matter to me in any game, but this, oh I’m so angry. Don’t buy it, or if you do learn all the bugs game can have and how to avoid them before starting!

The game support is officially end: Dear players. Thank you for your support and continued interest in the game. Mono Studio has been trying to keep the project afloat for a long time, both on its own and with the involvement of third-party help, in order to fulfill all the promises made when launching the kickstarter. Unfortunately, the project team eventually fell apart. We tried to finish what we started with the help of hired specialists, but due to the complex architecture of the project, it turned out to be impossible to do this. Even highly qualified professionals could not solve all the problems that needed to be fixed. At the moment, we do not have people to bring the game to its proper form. We are very sorry and I apologize on behalf of the whole team for this situation. We believed in Insomnia, worked on it for a long time, but failed. Thank you for being with us. And once again, forgive me for the fact that the Ark did not make it to its destination.

In the current drought of at least half-decent roleplaying games ... comes this. Of course, it was released before it should have been (there are obvious inventory bugs, camera could be more fluid, etc ..) which I hope get better with time. But, this does not detract from the amazing story and world the player is immersed into. I appreciate a solid SF (yes, SF (Delaney and Leguin) not the cringe-inducing term "sci-fi") story, be it a book, or a movie. So it was a very surprising development that a mere computer game was actually able to draw me in. This hasn't happened since the times of KOTOR II. As far as the roleplaying elements go, it is one of those games such that lets you develop your character as you see fit. There is really nothing revolutionary in it, but it works. The combat is engaging and fun and so are the various mini puzzles. The world seems vast and multilayered. Crafting is not boring (an achievement). NPCs are interesting, dialogues well done. I have to say, the amount of comments that compare this game to Fallout AND say that it was released technically semi-finished almost stopped me from buying. Fallout was incredibly boring to me in all its incarnations. I also hate unfinished games and most of the time i try not to award prereleased releases. But, this time, I did not regret it.